Confessions of a delinquent news addict
Turning off from the news may be the best route to sanity
I am slightly disgusted with myself and fully appreciate that my excuses are pathetic but I have been disengaging from the news.
Even before the stomach churning scenes in the White House as the ‘Leaders of the Free World’ decided to sandbag President Zelensky in front of the TV cameras, I was becoming increasingly reluctant to torture myself by compulsively keeping up with the twists and turns of truly vile and increasingly idiotic world events. I quite appreciate it is nothing short of shameful cowardice to avert eyes from the awful things that dominate the news agenda but right now cowardice is looking better than willful damage to my mental health.
It's not easy to look away because for most of my life the news has been my business necessitating embarrassingly high levels of news consumption. Complete disengagement is proving hard to achieve but it is entirely feasible to ration exposure to the Orange Infant in the White House’s frequent tantrums when he senses that he is no longer the centre of attention. Here, in Britain, it means not having to be constantly remined that the people who promised so much in government are straining every sinew to disappoint.
And then there is truly horrific news from Gaza to the mass slaughter in Congo and other reports of human suffering that are ever present.
To have the luxury of looking away means that you are not on the frontlines. Yet what I have learned from reporting the news is that many of those closest to the truly dreadful things happening around them also turn off the news because they know full well that what they are going to read or see in the media is going to be awful. They do not require news bulletins to tell them how bad things are and media reminders are not helpful.
People living in authoritarian states, where the news consists of official propaganda, are also news averse because they have learned to simply ignore the lies and to let the surge of disinformation wash over them because to engage is to be driven mad.
But when, like me, you live in a peaceful small city where the loudest sounds are cars backfiring, excuses for news disengagement are less dignified.
That said ignoring the horrors of the world, the constant bleating from Washington and the flabby nothingness from London is not the same as pretending that these things are not happening.
The argument is made, and not without merit, that however much you ignore the news, the news will not ignore you. There is always a ripple effect and sometimes a tidal effect of events that may well catch up with you. Maybe it will not, so sanity is often best preserved by not obsessing over ‘what if’.
Some people are made of sterner stuff and will engage with the news, using this information to take part in activities aimed at transforming the course of events. They have shunned passivity in favour of action – it is not the easy option.
Activism is not for everyone as many people have quite enough to do just keeping their heads above water. Yet there is a kind of heroism in seeing those most affected by dire events opting to become activists.
Far less heroic is sitting at home and moaning about the boredom evoked by politicians’ antics, the stupidity of celebrities and the endless portrayal of inhumanity that fills television screens.
And yet there comes a point when you feel a need to take a break from the swirling currents of the news. Where instead of being outraged by the outrageous you find the repetition of atrocity numbs the response, worse you might even slump into acceptance of the outrageous because it has become commonplace.
Like all other addicts I find withdrawal from the news to be both painful but it is also a relief, albeit tinged with guilt. Obviously, I have not shut off all exposure to the news, merely reduced it to more ‘normal’ levels. Us recovering journalists never reach a stage of full recovery.
I might however be overdoing things as I recently found myself switching over from the news to ogling some TV property buying shows where smiling estate agents and their hapless victims embark on a search for their ‘dream homes’. This is BS of the highest order but there I was watching it. So maybe it’s time to get back to real life with the important qualification that it does not involve following the daily ravings of the Orange Blob in the White House.